The Legend of Avatar Shing
by Kensu
Summary: Iron tells the Gaang the story of how the Airbenders came to be nomads.


The Legend of Avatar Shing

Written By: Chris Schumacher

It was Kya's milkbending which changed the topic of dinner conversation to the future of Airbending. Katara scowled at her daughter as she mopped up the spilled milk; Bumi laughed uproariously from his high-chair.

Sokka, Zuko and Iroh barely managed to conceal their grins. Aang had adopted his long-suffering grimace.

"Have you given any thought to the future of the Airbenders, Aang?" Firelord Zuko asked.

"A little," Aang said. "I'm still the only Airbender, so it isn't like there's much I can do about it at the moment."

"Well you two just need to keep trying," Sokka said. "I'm sure you'll get an Airbender eventually."

Aang looked away, embarrassed; Katara blushed until she was bright red.

They were in the Firelord's dining chamber in the palace of the Firelord. It was the 13th anniversary of the defeat of the presumptive Phoenix King. They tried to make a tradition of getting back together every year on this date; but this year there were some empty chairs. Toph had been tied up (figuratively and sometimes even literally) with her Metalbending academy, and Suki was conducting an inspection of her troops on the Earth Kingdom's southern border.

"You probably won't need four Air Temples for your Airbenders; I can have my engineers refurbish one of them for you, if you want," Zuko said.

"I think you mean two," Sokka said. "Airbender temples are gender-separated."

"That's not something I'm going to repeat," Aang said. "I hated the fact that there were never any girls at the Southern Air Temple. There was no point in performing dangerous stunts if there was no one around to impress."

"Why did you guys live like that anyway?" Kya said. "Why couldn't you just live in a city or a village like we do?"

"Yeah, that's a good question," Sokka said. "Why did the Airbenders live like monks? I understand that they lived in the mountains so they could have great heights to practice their Airbending; but why all the other stuff?"

"Did it have something to do with the belief that air is the element of freedom?" Zuko said.

"Uh…. I don't really know," Aang said. "Believe it or not, I didn't really pay attention to most of the philosophy lessons."

"I know why," Iroh said in a somber voice. Everyone at the table turned to look at him. Even Bumi was gravely silent.

Accepting the unspoken cue, Iroh began his story.

* * *

Over a thousand years ago, back when the names of all the Avatars could be held within a young pupil's impatient minds, there was a young man named Shing who belonged to a family of stonemasons. The Reng family is known even today in the eastern Earth Kingdom for their ability to use Earthbending to carve stone with superb skill.

In the 13th year of Shing's life the Earth King's council of sages determined that this young boy was the new Avatar. Now back then the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Kingdom were on friendly terms; so the Earth King Wei-Zhen sent Shing along with his emissaries to the Firelord Lilong.

Now in those days the capitol of the fire kingdom was Hou-Kou, on the north-eastern shore. And because the strongest Firebenders tend to become the Firelord, it was Lilong who was chosen to teach the new Avatar. So Shing found himself in the imperial court at Hou-Kou, an environment completely unlike the humble circumstances he had come from.

The Firelord has a son, Chen, who was a couple of years younger than Shing. As the Firelord is said to be the greatest Firebender, his first son is held to be the second-greatest, and in this case it was the absolute truth. Shing learned his Firebending skills from Chen as often as he learned them from Lilong. By the end of Shing's three-year sojourn in the Fire Nation, Shing and Chen had developed the sort of friendship that should last a lifetime.

Shing was filled with dread as his training came to end; he had come to value the company of the Firelord and his son, and did not want to give up the ease of life at court. However his calling as the Avatar took precedence, and since a messenger from the Air Republic had never arrived, he began his journey north to the water tribe, breaking the traditional sequence of the elements. In those days the steam ships that the Fire Nation uses had not been invented, so Shing had to make his way to the mainland with a sailing ship, and then travel across the continent by caravan. It took almost an entire year to reach the domain of the northern Water Tribe.

Once he arrived there, things did not go well. The humble lives of the Water Tribe were a bitter reminder of Shing's own roots, and he secretly hated his hosts. As such, whereas it took Shing mere days to bend fire for the first time, it was an entire year before Shing could overcome his disgust and bend water. His progress after that was, as the dentists of Ba Sing Se say, like pulling teeth.

Shing spent five years in the remote arctic wastes before he decided he has mastered Waterbending. Most of the last three years were spent impatiently awaiting a messenger from the Republic of Air. Eventually he decided that the messenger would never come, and he began the long trek southward to his homeland in the Earth Kingdom.

Shing did not wish to return to the village of his birth, so he went to Ba Sing Se and offered his services to the king Wei-Zhen himself. The king happily accepted, but inadvertently angered Shing when he made him oversee one of his construction projects in the east.

Shing took on the project, though with gritted teeth, and as every day passed his hatred of Wei-Zhen grew. The project consisted of building an oasis city in the Si Wong Desert. While his crew of Earthbenders shaped the sand into building blocks, he used Waterbending to find underground rivers, which he then used his Earthbending to redirect to a giant reservoir built beneath the city. He also used his Firebending to create massive quantities of glass from the sand.

The city they created, Shen Ji—the Miracle City of the desert—exists to this day, and is the crowning achievement of Wei-Zhen's reign. If Shing has been a better man, it would also be the thing he was remembered for.

Two years into this endeavor, just as the city's construction was finished, Shing awoke in the middle of the night to find a stranger sitting in his tent. The stranger was an old man who wore orange and yellow clothing, and who had arrow-shaped tattoos on his limbs and head.

("I thought the Avatar was the only one who had those," Kya said.

"Shhh, don't interrupt Uncle Iroh's story, honey," Katara said.

"These tattoos are the sign of an Airbender," Aang said, pulling up his sleeves to show them off.)

Yes, this man was an Airbender, but he was not a monk as the Airbenders of modern times were, so he had not shaved his head; though like many of the monks, he had a beard.

(Aang stroked his bare chin thoughtfully.)

Shing should have been grateful, for some people went their entire lives without ever meeting an Airbender. But his words of greeting to this Airbender were only: "What took you so long?"

"We have watched you a long time, and the immaturity you displayed during your training in the Arctic almost convinced us that you weren't worth training," the Airbender said.

"I'm the Avatar, you have to train me," Shing said indignantly.

"Then you obviously have never heard of Avatar Shibaizhe, who was so bumbling and incompetent that we refused to teach him," the Airbender said. "Though that should be no surprise; a person like him isn't apt to make it into the history books."

"Since you're here, I assume your opinion of me has changed," Shing said.

"Yes, what you've done here—however begrudgingly—has convinced us that you are capable of great things. If you so wish, I will take you to our city," the Airbender said.

* * *

Yun-Cheng, the city of the Airbenders—

("Yun-Cheng!" Sokka said. "I thought that was only a legend!")

Yun-Cheng, the city of the Airbenders; believed by many to be only a legend. But in those days the legend was real. A city the size of Ba Sing Se-that floated amongst the clouds-and never stayed long over any one place. It is said that the canyon of the Great Divide was dug by the Airbenders so the stone could form a base for their great city.

There were great towers of leaded glass, and the Airbenders flew amongst them like birds on their gliders. The city was full of technical marvels that have been lost to time. Their machines were not powered by steam turbines, or lightning that flowed through copper wires. The machines were powered by currents of air, which pushed gears and cogs; their city was a clockwork technical utopia. These days the only remnants of that technology are gliders like Aang's, the orrery in Wan Shi Tong's Library, the lock mechanisms in the ruins of the Airbender's temples, and the medicines that save us from the plagues that ravaged the surface world at that time.

Long lost are such wonders as the rotocopter, the gyroscope, machines which could calculate the tides and do arithmetic that was difficult for human beings. Legend even has it that at the time that Shing was brought to Yun-Cheng, its scientists were on the verge of devising a means of traveling among the stars themselves.

The Airbenders created Yun-Cheng so that they would have a nation of their own, which could never be conquered, where they would be allowed to pursue their own interests without the interference of the other nations. They had no intention of ever returning to the surface world. They also forbade any surface dweller from entering their city; the only exception being the Avatar.

Shing took to Yun-Cheng even more than he did to the court of the Firelord. The technical marvels and wondrous architecture spoke to the builder in him. However as welcome as Shing found the city of the Airbenders, he had more difficulty mastering Airbending than any of the others. This has often happened with Avatars, when it comes time for them to bend elements which are the opposite of the ones they were born into.

Shing's teachers grew annoyed because they believed Shing to be displaying the same intransigence he did during his time with the Water Tribe. However they soon discovered that his difficulties in bending air were genuine.

Boshi Wu (the Airbender masters were not called Shifu in Yun-Cheng, as they were seen as masters of a craft and not as religious figures) found pity on young Shing, and used his skills as a craftsman to build a glider that could be powered by a spring-motor instead of the power of an Airbender. Using this device he taught Shing how to fly in the fields and parks of Yun-Cheng.

For weeks Shing spent the entire day flying in the skies of Yun-Cheng; it was very tiring, but he had never felt so free. He realized just how far he had come from his roots as a humble stonecutter. As he became accustomed to the freedom that flight provided, he finally overcame the block in his mind that prevented him from Airbending.

Shing's progress at Airbending was amazing; even his grizzled teacher's were astonished as how quickly and thoroughly he mastered the discipline. Shing was undoubtedly the most powerful and adept Airbender that ever lived. He could leap thousands of feet into the air, and fly for brief amounts of time without the aid of a glider. With Airbending he could create waterspouts and sand storms which were more powerful than anything Waterbending or Earthbending could give him. He could create dust devils and make them dance around each other; he could also still even the most destructive of cyclones. He could even purify air when it had become unfit to breathe, which was very helpful for traveling at high altitudes where there was little or no air, and you had to bring a pocket of air with you.

Within a year he began to teach younger Airbenders, and had earned the title of Boshi. By the end of the second year, the other Airbending instructors informed him that his training was complete. Now the true difficulty began; Shing had come into his own as the Avatar. It was now his job to bring the world into balance; and there were no instructors or manuals for that.

Shing went to the council of Yun-Cheng, and conferred with them about the world's problem. The Northern Water Tribe was suffering a terrible famine; there was a civil war brewing in the Earth Kingdom; and as always there were border skirmishes between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom.

Shing pondered these crises for many hours; eventually deciding that the famine in the north would be the easiest to fix, since it only involved fighting nature.

The last three winters had been especially cold ones in the northern half of the world; this lead to a reduction in the amount of algae in the water. This algae is what fish and most other sea life in the shallow waters around the polar ice cap fed on. These animals were the staples of the Northern Water Tribe's diet. Therefore all the sealife stayed well south of the icecap during the winters. This left the Northern Water Tribe starving, and with each subsequent summer they would overfish, causing certain species to vanish entirely from their waters. Each winter became worse than the last; and it was soon suggested that the Northern Water Tribe might have to move southward. That would only cause more political strife with the Earth Kingdom.

One summer morning Shing returned to Shen Ji. The work crew he had left behind were putting the finishing touches on the city, and the miracle city of the desert already had more than a thousand inhabitants.

"My friends," he said. "Together we created a miracle which will stand for thousand of years. I call on you again to create another miracle, from which the entire world will benefit."

The crew of Earthbenders were exhausted from their work, and missed their families. However Shing had that ineffable quality which is called leadership and many chose to follow him.

Using a fleet of rotocopters, Shing and his work crew made it to the Northern Water Tribe in a little less than a day. Once there Shing used his Firebending to drill a chute through the ice cap to the land below (for, you remember, the icecaps cover landmasses.)

After this arduous task, he had his crew of Earthbenders dig a vast cavern and use the broken up pieces of the Earth's crust and mantle to line the chute. Meanwhile he slept for an entire day to recover.

As his crew was working, a fleet of rotocopters arrived; they were piloted by some of Shing's disciples, who he'd sent to the southern islands of the Fire Nation to collect basket upon basket of a lichen we know as Fire Weed.

(Zuko groaned. "That damn stuff. I remember when we toured those islands during my exile, we had to burn the damn stuff off the hull every single day!")

Shing went down the chute and sat alone in the dark recess that his Earthbenders had built. He sat there for three days; not eating, drinking, or sleeping. During that time he used his Earthbending and Waterbending skills to move underground rivers and magma lines towards him. When he had finished, the underground cavern were filled with warm springs.

His Airbenders created a windstorm in the cavern and spread the spores of the Fire Weed as far as possible. Within a couple of days the cavern was covered in the lichen; the Water Tribe quickly harvested it. It wasn't especially tasty, but it had vital nutrients, and no one died from malnutrition that winter. This place still exists, and because of the fast-growing nature of the Fire Weed, it is always well-stocked with food.  
("I know that place," Katara said. "Aang and I went there when we were studying Waterbending at the North Pole. I had no idea an Avatar had created it, though.")

As with so many things, the Northern Water Tribe Food Cave would be a commendation to the memory of Avatar Shing. But as with Sozin, he is only remembered for the terrible acts he later committed, and not the many great deeds he did earlier in his life.

* * *

Now that Shing had dealt with the famine, he had to face the problems he had been dreading: the political problems in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom. Shing found it much easier to deal with the elements than with people, even though he found the excesses of court life to his taste.

He began by returning to Ba Sing Se to be briefed by king Wei-Zhen on the nature of the uprising that was threatening to explode into a civil war.

In the northern mountains of the Earth Kingdom there is a city called Saantin; it is the smallest and most rustic of the Earth Kingdom's provincial capitols. It had been overrun several months before by a ragtag army of armed farmers and miners. They were lead by a man who called himself The Great Hung, who claimed not only to be the true heir to the throne of the Earth Kingdom, but also the true Avatar. King Wei-Zhen was already preparing his troops to retake the city; but he hoped that if Shing could prove that Hung was not the Avatar, that his followers would desert him and the uprising could end without bloodshed.

Shing ditched the yellow and orange Airbender robes he had worn for most of his career as the Avatar, and took on the green vestments of a miner. He snuck into Saantin along with three of the strongest Earthbenders from his workcrew. His cover-story was that they were a group of miners from the southern provinces who were looking for work.

Shing found the citizens of Saantin to be very enamored of their leader. This was not like the feelings of alliance and friendliness that the Earth Kingdom people had for their king, or the Fire Nation citizens had for the Firelord. There was a feeling among them that Hung had been sent to save them from a life barren of meaning and full of turmoil. In awe, Shing realizes that these people worshipped Hung, as if her were a god.

Shing first saw Hung a week into his team's sojourn in Saantin. One of Hung's great generals, Sizi, was accused of treason; Hung had challenged him to trial by combat. Hung appeared in the great marketplace in the center of town, and his former general was brought before him in chains.

Hung had to be at least ten years older than Shing, he thought. He had a shaved head and a beard which was flecked with grey. He wore elaborate robes which combined threads of blue, green, yellow and red; the four colors which represented the four elements and nations.

Hung ordered the guard to remove Sizi's bonds, and to give him a sword. The two squared off against each other across the marketplace; Hung did not even bother to arm himself with a weapon.

Sizi created a platform with his Earthbending and slid across the marketplace towards Hung; Hung upended Sizi's platform and sent him flying. Sizi, however, displayed a great deal of acrobat skill and landed right before his former commander. He slashed at Hung's face and created a great gash across his right cheek.

Hung retaliated with boulders created from the ground of the marketplace, but Sizi managed to evade them with a mixture of acrobatics and Earthbending. They exchanged blows for some time, before Sizi managed to get the upper hand and encased Hung within a boulder.

Sizi stood panting, as he looked at the newly-formed boulder with anticipation. All eyes in the marketplace were also upon the lump of stone which contained the man who claimed to be the Avatar. Suddenly it exploded and Hung blasted forward, sending forth a cascade of fire which scorched the ground and hit Sizi dead center.

Sizi caught fire, and screamed and thrashed in agony for many minutes before he finally expired. Hung never once seemed to consider being merciful and ending his suffering. After his supposedly-traitorous general was dead, Hung left without uttering a single word.

The crowd quickly dispersed, but a few stayed behind to contemplate the burned husk that had once been General Sizi; Shing was among them. He wasn't quite sure what to think; he didn't for one moment believe that Hung was the Avatar. Shing had mastered all four elements, and had conferred with his predecessors in the meditation in the temples in Hou-Kou, Ba Sing Se and Yun-Cheng. However at the same time, he knew that hybrid benders were impossible. The only bender who could bend more than one element was the Avatar.

Even though there had never been any hybrid benders, Shing wondered, did that mean hybrid bending was impossible? He remembered reading the histories of the Four Nations in the great library of Yun-Cheng, and knew that there was a time when there had been no Avatar and no bending. Was it possible that bending was evolving in a different way?

The next day Shing went to the hills overlooking the field next to the palace, where Hung trained with his troops. Many of the citizens came here during the drills to marvel at their leader and his forces.

That morning Hung was training his Earthbenders to defend themselves against a Firebending opponent. As Shing watched, something began to bother him; however he wasn't able to put his finger on it. However after an hour of watching Hung Firebend, Shing realized what it was that bothered him. In that moment he knew with absolute certainty that Hung was not the Avatar, or a hybrid bender.

The evening, as dusk approached, Shing went north of town and set a large signal fire. This was to let his Airbending disciples in the mountains know that he needed them.

Several hours later he gathered his Earthbender workcrew and his Airbending disciples, and marched on the palace of Saantin. Hung's guards and troops were caught flatfooted; they had never fought Airbenders before, and their abilities, combined with those of the Avatar and the Earthbenders, made quick work of them.

Shing and his entourage stormed into the throne room, where they found Hung sitting, nonplussed, upon his throne.

"I don't know who you are," Hung said. "But it doesn't matter. You will quickly learn the price that one pays for fighting the Avatar."

"I know you aren't the Avatar," Shing said. And with four quick motions, he bended all four of the elements; there was a rush of wind, a wisp of fire, a splash of water, and a small boulder ripped itself free from the floor.

"Furthermore, I know how you fooled everyone into thinking that you were. I've been in the southwestern provinces, where there are disputes between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom. I know what can happen when an Earthbender and a Firebender have children. I realized the truth because of that gash on your face, which Sizi gave you yesterday. I can see that it still hasn't healed; but when Hung Firebended earlier, there was no gash upon his face," Shing said.

Hung stared at him in silence for several moments, his face a mask betraying no emotion. Then, he began to slowly clap. "Very well done, Avatar; I am not so much impressed in your ability to discern my trickery, as I am disappointed in the countless idiots among the populace who couldn't figure it out."

From behind the throne walked an identical-looking man, wearing the same kind of robes. The only way to tell them apart was the gash that one had on their cheek.

"My name is Zo Hung, and this is my brother Jau," the man on the throne said.

"Introductions are not necessary," Shing said. "This is not a situation where decorum is expected or welcome."

"Ah, but I wanted the great Avatar to know the names of the ones who destroyed him," Zo said. With that he and brother leapt into action and threw everything they had at the Avatar.

I would like to say that it was an epic battle; something which was the defining moment of Shing's life, and indeed the history of the Four Nations should be something very impressive. Alas, the Hung brothers shared the weakness of their troops; they had never fought an Airbender.

Shing created small cyclones which knocked the brothers off their feet and held them prone ten feet above the throne room's floor. They continued to bend, but Shing rode around the room on his own cyclone; they craned their necks to try and see him to guide their bending, but he was always too quick.

However, Shing was not being capricious. He held them prone for so long because he wasn't quite sure what to do with them. He considered bringing them in chains to Wei-Zhen; but they were benders, and could never safely be kept in any prison. So it was likely that Wei-Zhen would have them executed.

Dark thoughts ran through Shing's mind as he remembered Jau burning Sizi alive; how he smirked as he watched his former general scream in agony. Shing decided that the two brothers were not only too dangerous to be left alive; their actions made it clear that they had no right to live.

The cyclones disappeared and the brothers crashed to the ground. The gasped and clawed at their throats. Shing had created an area of airlessness around them, and they quickly suffocated.

Shing and his taskforce took the brother's bodies on carts to the marketplace the next morning. He dumped them onto the dusty ground before the townspeople.

"These men are your great leader, the ones who used a parlor trick to convince you that they were the Avatar," Shing said; he rose from the ground on a small cyclone. "There is only one Avatar, and I am him."

He was about to chastise them for believing the Hung brothers, but something happened which Shing did not expect, and which changed his life and the history of the Four Nations forever.

The townspeople kneeled before him.

* * *

Although Shing was the Avatar, he had spent his entire life around other benders, people who were more or less his equals. He had started out in the mines with other Earthbenders, had been with Firebenders in the court of the Firelord, other Earthbenders in the court of the Earth King, and other Airbenders in the temples and gymnasiums of Yun-Cheng.

He was aware that he was something special because he could bend more than one element; but it had never occurred to him how in awe of him people who could not bend at all would be. Therefore it took him quite aback when the townspeople kneeled before him, and called him the true heir to the throne of the Earth Kingdom.

Shing quickly dispersed the crowd and returned to the palace, where he and his taskforce had set up. Since they had effectively destroyed the government of Saantin, they would need to watch over things until Wei-Zhen sent a new governor. Shing had sent one of his Airbending disciples on his rotocopter to Ba Sing Se to carry the news of their triumph.

Shing was unable to sleep that night, as his mind was filled with many troubling thoughts. He thought of all the things that were wrong with the world. How people starved and died from diseases which had long been cured in the Republic of Air. It seemed unfair to him that the wonders of Yun-Cheng couldn't be shared with the rest of the world.

This wasn't the first time that he'd had these thoughts; but this was the first time when he thought that maybe he could do something about them. Those people had willingly kneeled before him; they would live or die at his command; because he was the Avatar. Why was he doing the will of the Earth King anyway? Shouldn't the Earth King be listening to him?

By dawn he had made his decision. He went into the mountains north of Saantin, where he and his taskforce had stowed their rotocopters before they infiltrated the city. He took his rotocopter and flew to the Airbender city of Yun-Cheng.

He hastily called a meeting with the city council, and laid his plans before them.

"The people of the other three nations live poorly compared to those of Yun-Cheng. The Water Tribes are blinded by superstition and are on the cusp of starvation. The people of the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation follow the dictates of an unelected leader; they have no say in how they are governed, but must pay taxes to support their leaders, and must fight and die in their wars.

"Plagues that your doctors cured long ago run rampant on the countryside, and farmers and factory workers are forced to work with their hands, when you could create machines that would increase their productivity a thousand fold.

"The Airbenders chose to leave the surface world a long time ago, and for very good reasons. However the rest of the world suffers while we live in comfort and fulfillment. As the Avatar, it is my duty to bring balance to the world, and to help where I can. I believe that the Republic of Air should spread across the surface world, and bring peace and prosperity to all."

Long did the council and parliament discuss Shing's remarkable proposal. For many there was much distaste for the surface world, and the idea of returning to it was repellant. However the Airbenders were only human and their hearts were made sad by the reality of what their brethren on the surface were suffering. It was a very close vote, but the parliament voted for Shing's war of expansion.

It would take them at least a year to design and build the machines of war that would be required. Shing bade them farewell and took his rotocopter back to Saantin, arriving there on the same day as the newly-appointed governor did.

The governor had with him a missive from King Wei-Zhen requesting he make haste to the Kingdom's west borders to deal with the skirmishes with the Fire Nation. Shing sent a negative reply, stating that it was necessary for him to stay in Saantin for the foreseeable future, so that he could help undo the corruption that the false-prophets Hung had inflicted on the people.

In reality he began to indoctrinate the people of Saantin with his vision of a world ruled by the Republic of Air. He used the medicines that the Airbenders had developed to wipe out disease and infant mortality in that city, and the people became grateful to him. Their love for him was far greater than the indifference they held for their new governor.

Although he was plotting a campaign of conquest, Shing never felt more at peace in his entire life; not even during his time in the floating city of Yun-Cheng. Shing had been born an Earthbender, and had lived among people like these as he was growing up. He felt as if he had finally come home.

He also stationed his Earthbender workcrew and Airbender disciples in Saantin. Along with several of Hung's most trusted generals, Shing created his Elite Guard; one of the most feared fighting forces of all time.

Exactly a year after the death of the brothers Hung, Shing sprung his trap. From out of the mountains drove heavily armored siege engines, equipped with guns that could fire shells that were larger than a man's head. Following them was an army of Airbenders that numbered in the tens of thousands. They lay siege to the city at the break of dawn.

The governor scrambled to get his guard into place, but at every step he was betrayed, for the city already belonged to Shing. Shing's elite guard took out his fighting force and threw open the gates, allowing the Republic forces to enter unhindered.

In the marketplace where Hung and Sizi fought a year before, Shing had the governor brought before him in chains. "This city is now part of the Republic of Air. I am sending you back to your king; tell him of what happened here. Also tell him that unless he ends his autocratic ways, his entire kingdom shall soon follow."

Shing's guards took the governor to the gates of the city, and threw him into the dust of the road that leads to Ba Sing Se; they then slammed the gates shut.

Shing and his generals began their plans for taking the three nearest cities; for they knew that the Earth King wouldn't take them seriously until they won a truly unqualified military victory. However they had their hands full that summer as they had to fight off five separate attempts by Wei-Zhen's forces to retake the city.

On the first day of autumn, Shing's forced attacked Hung Sing Bou. Due to their unmatched technology and the inroads Shing's agents had made in the city, Shing was expecting the city to fall in a matter of hours. He was incorrect; it took the better part of a week for the city's governor to surrender.

Shing cut off the governor's hand for the inconvenience he had caused, and threw him through the city gates, telling him to go to Wei-Zhen and deliver the same message he'd given when Saantin fell.

For the rest of that autumn and the following winter, Shing's forces invaded all of the surrounding towns and villages which had royal garrisons. Thus he was able to stop the incessant attempts to retake Saantin. For the latter half of that half-year, Shing did not lead his forces into battle. It was rumored that he was ill and never left his dwelling in Saantin. This was, in some manner true; but it was a malady of the spirit, and not of the body that troubled Shing. Every time he attempted to sleep he was tormented with terrible dreams, of himself dying in many different, and equally horrible, ways; of the Four Nations in flames; of an empty world with nothing living in it, where the acidic waves of the black sea lapped on the shores of the barren lands, eroding them away until nothing remained.

As spring drew closer, the surveillance being conducted by high-altitude gliders out of Yun-Cheng confirmed his suspicions about Wei-Zhen's next movement. The Royal Legion, the army which the Earth Kingdom used to defend itself against foreign powers, was on its way to them. The Royal Legion were the best trained soldiers in the entire Earth Kingdom, and they numbered almost a million.

Shing's generals knew fear for the first time, and suggested that they give up their holdings and flee into the wastelands to the east. Shing chided them for their lack of faith, but also told them that their fears were well-grounded, but they were working off incomplete information.

There is a plain at the foot of the mountain range in the northern Earth Kingdom that takes soldiers on foot over a week to traverse. As the Royal Legion reached the midpoint of their traversal, they were accosted by rotocopters; since none of those present had ever seen a rotocopter before, they couldn't have realized that these were of a new design. They had additional propellers, necessary for the much larger body of the rotocopter, and the cargo that it carried. Each of the massive rotocopters had a trapdoor on its bottom hull. The troops watched; some in wonder, some in dread, as these doors opened and massive metal cylinders fell out.

Over half the Royal Legion was lost in half-an-hour; even more would've been lost if the soldiers hadn't started to flee in all directions, making it impossible for the bomber rotocopters to chase after all of them. When they finally regrouped, under cover of night, the only surviving general (who was originally sixth in line of succession) called for a general retreat, and they marched in double-time back towards Ba Sing Se.

When Shing told his generals of the attack the next day, they were horrified. Not only because of the great loss of life, but because weakening the Royal Guard would make them vulnerable to the Fire Nation. If the Firelord found that half of their main forces had been wiped out, he might decide that the Earth Kingdom was ripe for invasion.

"That is why we cannot allow Wei-Zhen to rule any longer. We must take Ba Sing Se, and with it the entire Earth Kingdom. Once we do that, we will add back the Royal Legion with our own troops and the technology of Yun-Cheng. The Fire Nation will then begin to fear us," Shing said.

Again his generals were aghast; Ba Sing Se had never been penetrated for all its history. It was true that before, and in the future, it had fallen five times. However those times were through intrigue and guile. Shing simply did not have the intelligence network necessary to take the city in that manner.

Shing only smiled. "Again, your fears are well-founded. However you don't have all the information. During the last six months the factories of Yun-Cheng has been working on new and greater weapons; and it is with these weapons that we will conquer Ba Sing Se."

And so they began their preparations to invade the city that had never been taken by military force. Shing introduced his generals and troops to the new weapons from Yun-Cheng. In addition to the bomber rotocopters, there was another variety which was armed with guns that fired shells half the size as those of their armored siege engines. There were other massive rotocopters with four propellers that could carry a thousand troops over Ba Sing Se's high walls.

For the troops themselves were given armor made out of an alloy that were impervious to any arrowhead, sword-edge or knife blade. They were also given swords with light and springy blades that were sharper than any elsewhere in the world.

On the first day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar; a day which is traditionally known for jokes and merriment, the forces of Shing struck Ba Sing Se. The city was completely unprepared, and both the Royal Guard and Royal Legion (which had been brought in to protect the capital) were no match for Shing's armored troops and Yun-Cheng's engines of war.

Bombs rocked the city and shells ripped apart soldiers from a distance. The line that the soldiers of the Earth Kingdom held fell farther and farther back, until even the palace district was in danger.

The palace district was where Shing and his Elite Guard went, floating to the ground from a trooper carrier with parachutes of silk. There Shing's Elite Guard met the Palace Guard and fought. Quickly the Airbenders were victorious, for as skilled as the Palace Guard was, they had never had to fight against Airbending. Shing and his Elite Guard stormed the throne room, where they found Wei-Zhen atop the throne. He glared at the Avatar in defiance, but neither spoke a word. Shing motioned to his guards to take the Earth King, and he led them out to one of the palace's great courtyards, where the troop carrier had landed.

Within the troop carrier was Shing's personal transport rotocopter. He had his Guard place the chained king inside it, and took the controls. He took off from the palace grounds, and flew straight up for a long time. He went farther up than anyone had before, or since. He was so high above the ground that he needed to bring a pocket of air along with them so that the rotocopter would continue to work, and he and the captive Earth King could breathe.

"Look out the canopy, your majesty, and you will see what no human being has ever seen before; the entire Earth Kingdom," Shing said.

In spite of himself, Wei-Zhen looked, and gasped. He could indeed see the entirety of the land he ruled, as well as a good portion of the Fire Nation as well. It was mostly covered with clouds, but he recognized the shapes of the coastlines from the maps he often studied. He could also make out the Si Wong desert, which was at that moment covered by no clouds.

"I have shown you what no one has ever seen. How can you doubt my power now? Help me usher in the greatest age of peace and prosperity this world has ever known. The Earth Kingdom needs a leader, who will answer to no one but me and the parliament of the Republic of Air. I see no reason why that person cannot be you," Shing said.

Wei-Zhen turned to look at the Avatar, appearing at first to be contemplative, but then he spit in his face. "Damn you usurper, I will never serve you! Foul murder and traitor, I will not rest until you are dead!"

Shing let out a long sigh, and then shrugged. "So be it." He kicked Wei-Zhen from the rotocopter. His body was found on the western coast a week later, all of the bones in his body crushed to powder.

Thus ended the Zhen dynasty of the Earth Kingdom.

* * *

For the rest of that spring Shing concentrated on affirming his control of the Earth Kingdom. He made the palace of Ba Sing Se his headquarters, and placed his Elite Guard in charge of what remained of the Royal Legion.

Shing sent an emissary to Hou-Kou with a scroll to Chen, who had become the Firelord after his father's passing the previous year. The message stated that Shing offered him an opportunity to have the Fire Nation join the Republic of Air and help him usher in a golden age. The only reply Shing received was the emissary's decapitated head, with the scroll shoved into his mouth.

Shing was sorrowful at his old friend's rejection; for it meant not only that their friendship was over, but another bloody campaign was before him. He discussed with his generals the plausibility of attacking the Fire Nation. They realized that their guns and bombs could easily be nullified by Chen's Firebenders, so Yung-Cheng would have to develop new weapons for them to use, or they would have to find a different strategy.

Shing decided that while the technology of Yun-Cheng would give them an advantage, they would have to use bending as their primary weapon. He began to work with his Elite Guard on synchronized bending, where one or more bender works together to achieve an effect greater than any one alone could achieve. He was able to have Earthbenders work together to create earthquakes, and Airbenders work together to create cyclones. Thus Shing planned to use weather itself against the Fire Nation.

There is a city on the eastern tip of the Fire Nation called Wan Quan Dong Bu; this city had a strong garrison that is used to fight off any intrusion from the Earth Kingdom. A year and a day after the fall of Ba Sing Se, Wan Quan Dong Bu was hit by a massive tsunami. This tsunami had been created by Shing's elite guard, who from a vantage point on a troop carrier used synchronized bending to create a massive underwater earthquake.

As the waters subsided Shing's troops struck the city, taking it unawares and hopelessly ill-prepared to fight against them. It fell in a matter of hours, and the garrison was completely destroyed. Shing cut off the head of the garrison's commander, and had a rotocopter drop it on the palace grounds of Hou-Kou.

The Fire Nation struck back in less than a week, but the forces sent to liberate the city were routed by a cyclone created by Shing's Airbender disciples.

For the next six months Shing cut inroads into the Fire Nation as he took city, town, and village one after the other. He threw natural disasters at them, and led his troops in as they tried to repair the damage. It was a devious, cunning, and ultimately sound strategy.

Chen shed many tears of sorrow and bitterness for the many lives of his citizens that had been lost to a man he had once called friend. He began to regret not taking Shing's offer to join the Republic of Air without bloodshed. He sent an emissary to Shing, requesting a temporary cease-fire, and suggesting that they settle the matter of control of the Fire Nation by Agni Kai.

Shing was bemused by this offer; however he knew that Chen was honorable, unlike him, and that the offer of a duel was genuine. He sent a messenger back, saying that he would only agree if he were allowed to use all of his bending skills, and not limit himself to Firebending. Chen reluctantly agreed.

Before Shing left for the duel, he told his Elite Guard to continue the war if he died, since he had no intention of honoring the agreement with Chen in the case of a loss.

Shing and Chen met on the island which would later house the Capital City of the Fire Nation; but during that time it was undeveloped and no one lived there. Shing and Chen were accompanied only by their seconds.

At the beginning of the duel, Shing tried to keep to the spirit of the Agni Kai by using only Firebending. However since he had learned his best tricks from Chen, he was bested every time. He then tried Airbending; but air and fire are brother elements, so the advantage he had known against Earthbenders vanished. When Shing tried to attack from above, Chen would chase after him on jets of flame. His mini-cyclones were taken from his control as Chen set the air on fire, reversed their spin, and sent them after Shing.

Shing had more luck using water and earth, but Chen was still the most fearsome opponent he had ever fought. Eventually Shing grew tired and Chen got the upper hand. Chen was on the verge of striking a death-blow when Shing entered the Avatar State for the first time.

For Shing, however, the Avatar state did not offer salvation. It was then that he realized that the terrible dreams he'd had since he began his campaign of conquest had been warnings and reproaches from the spirit world, from his predecessor Avatars. So when Shing entered the Avatar state, he lost control completely. The previous Avatars, working through Shing, held Chen harmless in a cyclone, and then went about the greatest exercise of bending that the world had ever seen.

Across the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom the machines of the Republic of Air exploded; many pilots were maimed and killed on that day. The giant statue of Dao-Ming, the founder of Yun-Cheng, which stood in the palace courtyard of Ba Sing Se, was toppled.

Greatest of all though, was the power that counteracted the Airbending of the people of Yun-Cheng; they were unable to keep their city aloft, and it fell for miles into the sea north of the Fire Nation and sunk below the waves. At the time that Shing came to Yun-Cheng, its population was three million souls. Less than five thousand, all of them Airbenders, survived its plummet into the sea.

Chen was released from the cyclone, and saw his former friend's eyes lose their glow. Then Avatar Shing fell to the ground, dead. For no one, Avatar or not, is able to channel that much energy through their body and survive.

Chen had won the Agni Kai, and Shing's leaderless forces beat a hasty retreat out of the Fire Kingdom. However the third war between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation had begun, and would rage for years after. It eventually took the efforts of the new Avatar, Kang of the Fire Nation, to bring peace.

The surviving Airbenders were changed forever. They saw the error of their ways, and how their attempt to be separate from the rest of the world had caused them to become disaffected. They retreated to temples at the four compass points, and began to work to help all people of all nations. That is how the Air Nomads came to be.

* * *

Iroh's story had caused dinner to last for a couple hours longer than planned, so everyone was sleepy by the time it was finished. Everyone went to their rooms, except for Aang who went to the chapel in the palace's north wing. He sat before the statue of Avatar Roku and began to mediate.

He meditated on his previous lives, and walked the spiral back almost to its origin. There he found the shade of Shing; he looked older than the young man he had been when he died. His face was creased with wrinkles, and his black hair was shot through with grey; his Earthbender robes were wrinkled. Unlike all the other Avatars, he was not standing, but rather sat on the floor. He looked up as Aang approached and smiled.

"Avatar Aang, I am glad to see you! I watched with wonder and pride your many achievements. I was especially happy when you found a way to defeat Firelord Ozai without taking his life," Shing's ghost said.

"You aren't what I expected," Aang said.

"I have had many centuries to reflect on my actions; the counsel of my predecessors and successors has shown me the error of my ways," Shing's shade said.

"Yes, attempting to take over the world wasn't the most laudable of goals,"Aang said.

"Ah, but that is not the worst part of my legacy. I had an opportunity to bring a lasting peace between the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. So much of your history could've been different if I had only listened to the spirit world and taken advantage of the opportunities that were available to me. It's quite possible that you would have had a very different and happier life, Aang," Shing's ghost said.

"It's unwise and futile to concern ourselves with what might have been," Aang said.

"Very true and very wise, Aang," Shing's shade said.

Aang bid him farewell; as he ascended the levels of consciousness, he heard Shing's words echo after him.

"Aang, my dream: a world where people of all nations live together in peace. It's a good dream; perhaps with your wisdom you can find a way to make it a reality, without going to war," the voice said.

Aang opened his eyes and pondered his words.

The End

_"I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of the reader. I think that many confuse 'applicability' with 'allegory'; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author."_ -J.R.R. Tolkien


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